Alutiiq clay-lined subfloor pit
A large clay-lined depression built beneath some Alutiiq house floors in the Kodiak region, documented in Koniag contexts for food storage and possibly fermentation.
Built structures · Smokehouses and smoke rooms
Backyard smokehouse frame (UConn Extension)
UConn backyard smokehouse · EXT195 smokehouse
A wood-framed backyard smokehouse built from pine tongue-and-groove boards, with a sloped roof, vent dampers and a door, set out in a Connecticut Extension guide for smoking fish, pork, turkey, jerky and sausage.
A backyard frame for smoking
The UConn Extension guide describes a wooden backyard smokehouse built from pine tongue-and-groove boards on a sloped frame. It is a homemade cabinet, put together on site, with vent holes near the base, a damper over each vent and a door to load the racks. The guide gives its boards as nominal 1 × 6 × 8 foot stock, with the framing ripped down from 2 × 8 to 1½ inch square.
The guide's introduction says backyard smokehouses were used chiefly for fish, and also for smoke-cooking pork and turkey and for making jerky and sausage. That description places the frame among home smoking practices rather than among the tradition of any particular place.
Sources for this section
Building the cabinet
The build begins by removing the exposed tongue from the boards and clamping five boards per side. The slope is marked with a chalk line and cut with a circular saw or table saw, and the framing is ripped on a table saw. The guide assembles one side, mirrors it, adds the back frame and front braces, and then fits the door and racks.
The guide uses galvanised screws 1⅝ inches long, and it advises against pressure-treated lumber. The vent screen and the junction-box covers that serve as dampers are mentioned, but the guide does not give the screen's gauge or how it is fixed. Racks, hinges, the latch and the cut lengths of the stock are not given in the text available to the research, so the frame is recorded as a partial dimensioned draft.
Sources for this section
What the guide does not establish
The guide describes a construction method. It does not establish a smoking process, a temperature, a drying time or the safety of the smoked food. The research has not checked the Poynor article it credits, and it found no evidence that the frame originated in Connecticut or in 2006.
Anyone building the frame should treat fire clearance, smoke control and food handling as separate questions to be checked on the finished cabinet, not settled by the dimensions alone.
Sources for this section
History
UConn Extension's guide EXT195 was first published in 2006 and revised in April 2026. Its introduction says backyard smokehouses were used mainly for fish, and also for pork and turkey, jerky and sausage. The guide credits A. E. Poynor's 2004 Fish Alaska article as a general blueprint, which the research has not checked. The guide does not date a first local build.
Site
SettingA backyard, as the guide describes it.
GroundThe guide does not describe a foundation or base beyond the frame itself.
ClimateThe guide gives no climate figures.
FootprintFront 72 in, rear 69 in and base 25¾ in wide. The guide's figures do not fully reconcile on the count of vent holes and on the frame bays, so these are the guide's stated values, not checked measurements.
NotesThe guide's figure shows 14-inch frame bays and 2-inch vents; its text gives a different count of low holes near the base of each side.
A build is made where it stands: moving it means building it again.
How it is built
Risks and precautions
The guide acknowledges a risk of fire from the wood burn. Keep the fire and the wood apart from the boards and check the clearance before each use.
Materials
- 21 boards Tongue-and-groove pine boards — Listed as 1 × 6 × 8 ft stock; the tongue is removed where the guide says
- Framing stock — Ripped from nominal 2 × 8 to 1½ × 1½ in
- Galvanised screws, 1⅝ in — Driven after pilot holes
- Vent screen — Fixed over the two low vent holes on each side
- Junction-box covers — Used as dampers
- Remove the exposed tongue from the boards and clamp five boards per side for fitting.
- Mark the slope with a chalk line and cut the slope with a circular saw or table saw. The guide uses both.
- Rip the framing stock to 1½ × 1½ in and build the frame for one side, then mirror it for the other side.
- Add the back frame, the front braces and the door and racks, using the frame dimensions in the guide.
- Attach the vent screen and the dampers over the two low holes on each side, and check that the vents line up with the inside of the cabinet.
Places
Connecticut
Documented use · Region evidenceThe UConn Extension guide is written for a backyard build. It does not document a local tradition of smoking in Connecticut.
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UConn ExtensionEquipment · Method · History
Build your own smokehouse (EXT195)The guide uses 21 boards of 1 × 6 × 8 ft tongue-and-groove pine, framing ripped from 2 × 8 to 1½ × 1½ in, and galvanised screws 1⅝ in.
Backyard smokehouses were used chiefly for fish and also for pork, turkey, jerky and sausage, according to the introduction.
The guide was first published in 2006 and revised in April 2026, and credits A. E. Poynor's 2004 Fish Alaska article as a general blueprint.
Cited in: A backyard frame for smoking; Building the cabinet; What the guide does not establish